Sunday, 19 June 2011

Spiced beer cupcakes with honey buttercream

As it’s Father’s Day this weekend, my choice of baking had to be something that the CCD (Caked Crusader’s Da) would really enjoy. The CCD likes a spice cake and he likes beer, so this recipe seemed to select itself!

I chose Adnam’s Broadside as it’s one of the CCD’s favourites. Bitterness seems to be my nemesis with flavours – I just can’t fathom how anyone can drink a pint of beer without their mouth puckering up!

The intensity of the heavy spicing and beer needed balancing out with something softer and silkier, so I added a honey buttercream to the cake; it adds a beautiful texture to the cake.My logic was that there are honey beers, so it had to be a combination that worked!

The aroma that filled the kitchen while these little cakes baked was intoxicating. I always used to be wary of baking with beer as I don’t like the drink, but the harsh flavour disappears on baking and adds richness and depth to the spices.

Don’t be tempted to cut down on the amount of sugar in the sponge recipe; I know it looks a lot, but it’s necessary to balance the bitterness of the beer.The dark sugar and the beer combine to produce an amazing flavour – first of all you get beer, but without the bitterness, then the spice hits, then the beer comes back.Really flavoursome with a grown up edge!

Line two cupcake pans with paper cases (this mix will make 14 cupcakes).

Beat together the butter and sugar until well combined and light – as the recipe uses dark brown sugar it will never whip up like caster sugar will, but you should notice it gets lighter.

Beat in the egg.

Beat in the spices.

Fold in half the flour, along with the bicarbonate of soda.

Stir in half the beer. I found it best to keep the beaters going and pour the beer in a very slow trickle.

Repeat the process with the remaining flour and beer.

Ladle the batter into the paper cases; the batter it will be wet – don’t panic!

Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out cleanly. Mine took 20 minutes.

Leave to cool, in the tin, on a wire rack for 5 minutes until the cakes are cool enough and firm enough to handle.

Remove from the tin and leave to cool completely on the wire rack.

At this point the cakes will keep for several days in an airtight container.

Now make the buttercream: whip up the butter until it is light and fluffy.

Beat in the icing sugar and continue to beat until well combined. A good test for this is to take a little of the mix on your tongue and press against the roof of your mouth – if it feels grainy keep beating!

Beat in the honey.

If the buttercream seems soft, refrigerate for 10-15 minutes until it firms up.

Like the sound of the beer and spice combo, I can imagine they go very well, along with the honey buttercream. Never thought of adding honey to buttercream. I'm not a beer fan, so I'll perhaps try to think of some other flavour that honey buttercream would complement.

I made these yesterday - and brought into work - they went down VERY WELL ! My only error was I used spreadable unsalted lurpak - which was fine for the cake but made my icing too runny, leaving just a thin coating - which actually was plenty as its very sweet, for me a skim is enough.http://twitpic.com/66flxl

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So, the answer to the question you’re all asking: who am I? Well, a superhero never reveals their identity. I think it’s stated somewhere in the contract when you sign up for superhero-dom. Let’s just call me THE CAKED CRUSADER. By day (and night if I’m being honest) a mild-mannered City professional, but at weekends I become THE CAKED CRUSADER. Tirelessly fighting anti-cake propaganda and cake-related injustices – for SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE, ALWAYS NEEDS CAKE (we’ll just skip over the fact that it’s usually me).

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I am a 40-something Chartered Accountant working in the square mile.
My main hobbies at the moment are baking, and setting the world record for the number of cake tins owned by one person.
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